General Wastewater Treatment
Contaminants Targeted for Removal
• Sand, grit, debris
• COD, BOD - organic matter
• Bacteria, viruses, protozoan parasites
• Ammonia (total Kjeldahl), nitrate
• Phosphorus (inorganic and organic)
• Suspended particles
• Odor, color
• Specific chemicals (advanced only)
Wastewater Treatment Standards
Municipal Wastewater Treatment
Raw
Sewage
Bar Rack
Preliminary
Grit Chamber treatment
Equalization Basin
Primary Treatment Primary Settling
Bar racks
Purpose: remove
larger objects
Solid material
stored in hopper
and sent to
landfill
Mechanically (or
in rare instances
manually)
cleaned
Grit Chambers
Purpose: remove
inert dense material,
such as sand, broken
glass, silt and
pebbles
Avoid abrasion of
pumps and other
mechanical devices
Material is called
“grit”
Grit Chambers
Aerated grit chamber
Vortex grit chamber
Primary Settling
Purpose: settle organic particulate matter and thus
remove BOD
Tanks may be circular or rectangular
Settled sludge (called raw sludge) is removed
mechanically
Raw sludge is stabilized and dewatered before
disposal
Removal efficiency of about 30%
Primary Settling Basins
Secondary Treatment
Provide BOD removal beyond what
is achieved in primary treatment
removal of soluble BOD
additional removal of suspended solids
How accomplished?
Use microorganisms to convert
organic wastes into stabilized
compounds - similar to self-
purification process in streams
Protozoa
Basic ingredients
Availability of high density of
microorganisms
Good contact between organisms
and wastes
Availability of wastes
Favorable temperature, pH,
nutrients, carbon source (food)
No toxic chemicals present
Dispersed growth vs Fixed Growth
Dispersed Growth
Oxidation ponds
Activated sludge
Membrane Bioreactors
Fixed Growth
Tricklingfilters
Rotating Biological Contactors
Oxidation ponds: low-tech solutions
Aerobic ponds
Facultative ponds
Anaerobic ponds
Aerobic ponds
Shallow ponds (<1 m
deep)
Light penetrates to
bottom
Active algal
photosynthesis
Organic matter
converted to CO2,
NO3-, HSO4-, HPO42-,
etc.
Facultative ponds
Ponds 1 - 2.5 m deep
td = 30 - 180 d
not easily subject to Aerobic
upsets due to
fluctuations in Q, Facultative
loading Anaerobic
low capital, O&M
costs
Anaerobic Ponds
Primarily used as a pretreatment
process for high strength, high
temperature wastes
Can handle much high loadings
2 stage:
Acid fermentation: Organics Org.
acids
Methane fermentation Org. Acids CH
4
and CO2
Activated Sludge
Process in which a mixture of
wastewater and microorganisms is
agitated and aerated
Leads to oxidation of dissolved
organics
After oxidation, separate sludge
from wastewater
Activated Sludge
w/w
Return
Activated
Mixed
Sludge
Liquor Air
(RAS)
Treated
w/w
Secondary Discharge to
clarifier River or Land
Waste Application
Activated
Sludge
(WAS)
Activated sludge
East Lansing WWTP
Aeration tanks
Secondary Clarifier
East Lansing WWTP
Oxidation Ditch
Oxidation
Ditch Aeration Brushes
Final
Clarifier
Brushes
Return
Activated
Q
Sludge
Waste
Activated
Sludge
Oxidation Ditch
Membrane Bioreactor
Biological removal of organic matter in
aeration tank
Instead of a secondary settling tank a
membrane is used to separate biomass from
water
Very low BOD and suspended solids in
effluent
Membranes are expensive
Costs approaching conventional activated
sludge because of smaller “footprint” (no
secondary clarifier) and the decreasing cost
of membranes
Membrane Bioreactor
Courtesy of Siemens Water
Technologies
Trickling Filters
Rotating distribution arm sprays
primary effluent over circular bed of
rock or other coarse media
Air circulates in pores between
rocks
“Biofilm” develops on media and
microorganisms degrade wastes as
they flow past
Trickling Filters
Rotating arm
Rocks
Influent
Effluent
Trickling Filter
Qr 10% Q
Primary Secondary
Sludge Sludge
Preliminary Primary
Treatment Clarifier Trickling Final
Filter Clarifier
Recycle (optional)
Trickling Filters
Not a true filtering or sieving process
Material only provides surface on which
bacteria to grow
Can use plastic media
lighter - can get deeper beds (up to 12 m)
reduced space requirement
larger surface area for growth
greater void ratios (better air flow)
less prone to plugging by accumulating slime
Trickling Filters
Rock media trickling filter
Synthetic media trickling filter
Rotating Biological Contactors
Called RBCs
Consists of series of closely spaced
discs mounted on a horizontal shaft
and rotated while ~40% of each
disc is submerged in wastewater
Discs: light-weight plastic
Slime is 1-3 mm in thickness on disc
Rotating Biological Contactors
Aeration
Shearing of excess
Film
microorganisms
mixes with
wastewater
Attached microorganisms
pick up organics
Rotating Biological Contactors
Primary
Settling
Secondary
Settling
Sludge
Treatment
Sludge Treatment
Rotating Biological Contactors
Outcomes
Based on this lecture and material from
reference textbooks you should be
able to
Draw schematic diagrams of typical
wastewater treatment plants, identifying
the processes and marking flows of
water, chemicals, and residuals.
Describe the biological phenomena that
underlie the design and operation of
Activated sludge
Trickling filters and rotating biological
contactors
https://youtu.be/f7tRJ3082i0
